Community Justice Advocate Certificate
The Urban Institute reports that 19 percent of Utahns -- more than 600,000 people -- have some form of debt in
collections (e.g., housing, medical, student loans, auto, credit cards, etc.). Moreover, according to the Utah Bar Foundation’s 2022 Report, debt claims have accounted for 85 percent of all general civil legal claims filed in Utah District Courts. In half a million debt-related cases, nearly all defendants are individuals who do not have legal counsel, and about 71 percent of debt cases resulted in default judgment.
Nonprofit Legal Services (NLS)
Utah Bar Foundation (UBF)
Judge Richard Mrazik, Third District Court
Transforming Communities Institute (TCI)
USU Department of Social Work
USU College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Utah's Supreme Court has taken innovative steps to improve access to justice and enhance legal services for citizens by creating the regulatory Sandbox. Thus, TCI is partnering with Nonprofit Legal Services of Utah (NLS), among others, to design and implement a statewide initiative to train and certify new and existing social workers and other helping professionals to become Community Justice Advocates (CJAs) through a formalized university certificate. If approved, the program will be housed in the USU Department of Social Work and will focus initially on debt collection litigation. CJAs will be trained to assist clients with brief legal advice and other out-of-court activities within their current agencies. The overarching goal of the CJA program is to increase access to quality legal services for underserved populations in Utah by Increasing the defendant knowledge of rights and obligations; Increasing out-of-court settlements; and Decreasing default judgments.
Non-credit certificate expected to launch Fall 2024
Project Documents
"Social Workers Could Provide Legal Services Under New USU Program" - Utah State TODAY